Minor Queries.
Archbishop Parker's Correspondence.—I am now engaged in carrying out a design which has been long entertained by the Parker Society, that of publishing the Correspondence of the distinguished prelate whose name that Society bears. If any of your readers can favour me with references to any letters of the archbishop, either unpublished, or published in works but little known, I shall feel extremely obliged. I add my own address, in order that I may not encumber your pages with mere references. Any information beyond a reference will probably be as interesting to your readers generally as to myself.
John Bruce.
5. Upper Gloucester Street, Dorset Square.
Amor Nummi.—Can any of your correspondents inform me as to the authorship of the following verses?
Amor Nummi.
"'The love of money is the root of evil,
Sending the folks in cart-loads to the devil.'
So says an ancient proverb, as we're told,
And spoke the truth, we [no?] doubt, in days of old.
But now, thanks to our good friend, Billy Pitt,
This wholesome golden adage will not sit [fit?];
On English ground the vice dissolves in vapour,
Being at best only a love—of paper."
It must have appeared in an English ministerial paper about the year 1805.—From the Navorscher.
Dionysios.
The Number Nine.—Can any of your mathematical correspondents inform me of the law and reason of the following singular property of the numbers? If from any number above nine the same number be subtracted written backwards, the addition of the figures of the remainder will always be a multiple of nine; for instance—
| 972619 | |
| 916279 | |
| 56340 | the sum of which is 18, or 9 × 2. |
| 925012 | |
| 210529 | |
| 714483 | the sum of which is 27, or 9 × 3. |
| 83 | |
| 38 | |
| 45 | the sum of which is 9. |
John Lammens.
Position of Font.—The usual and very significant position of the font is near the church door. But there is one objection to this, viz. that the benches being best arranged facing the chancel, the people cannot without much confusion see the baptisms. This being so, perhaps a better place for the font is at the entrance of the chancel. The holy rite, so edifying to the congregation, as well as profitable to the recipient, can then be duly seen; and the position is tolerably symbolical, expressing as it were "the way that is opened for us into the holiest of all." I am curious to know if there are any ancient examples of this position, and how far the canon sanctions it, which directs that the font be set up in "the ancient usual places" [plural]? While on the subject let me put another Query. The Rubric directs that the font be "then," i. e. just before the baptism, filled with pure water. In what vessel is the water brought, and who fills the font? What are the precedents in this matter? Rules, I think, there are none.
A. A. D.
Aix Ruochim or Romans Ioner.—On the verge of the cliff at Kingsgate, near the North Foreland, is a small castle or fort of chalk and flint, known by the above name. Can any of your readers give any information regarding the date of the erection of this curious edifice? Some of the local guidebooks attribute it to the time of Vortigern, or about 448; but this seems an almost fabulous antiquity.
A. O. H.
Blackheath.
"Lessons for Lent," &c.—Lessons for Lent, or Instructions on the Two Sacraments of Penance and the B. Eucharist, printed in the year 1718. Who was the author?
H.
"La Branche des réaus Lignages."—Have any of your correspondents met with a romance, of which I have a MS. copy, entitled "La Branche des réaus Lignages?" The MS. I possess is evidently a modern copy, and begins thus:
"Et tens de celi mandement
Duquel j'ai fait ramembrement
Et qu'aucun homme d'avis oit
Jehan, qui Henaut justisoit
Guerréoit et grevoit yglises
En la garde le roi commises
Ne ... li vouloit faire hommage."
The poem is divided by numbers, probably referring to the pages of the original: beginning with 1292, and ending with 1307. It is also evident, from the first verses themselves, that I have only a fragment before me.—From the Navorscher.
Ganske.
Marriage Service.—Are there any parishes in which the custom of presenting the fee, together with the ring, in the marriage service, as ordered by the rubric, is observed?
E. W.
"Czar" or "Tsar."—Whence the derivation of the title Czar or Tsar? I know that some suppose it to be derived from Cæsar, while others trace it from the terminal -sar or -zar in the names of the kings of Babylon and Assyria: as Phalas-sar, Nebuchadnez-zar, &c. In Persian, sar means the supreme power. I have heard much argument about its origin, and would be much obliged if any reader of "N. & Q." could state the correct derivation of the word.
By which Emperor of Russia was the title first assumed?
J. S. A.
Old Broad Street.
Little Silver.—There are several places in Devonshire so called, villages or hamlets. It is said, they are alway situated in the immediate neighbourhood of a Roman, or some other ancient camp. Hence, some people suppose the name is given to these localities from the number of silver coins frequently found there.
Will any of your correspondents throw light on this subject?
As every one knows, there is also a Silverton in Devonshire—Silver-town par excellence. Is it in any way connected with the "Little Silvers?"
A. C. M.
Exeter.
On Æsop's (?) Fable of washing the Blackamoor.—Is it possible the well-known fable was a real occurrence? The following extract would seem to allude to an analogous fact:
"Counting the labour as endlesse as the maids in the Strand, which endeavoured by washing the Black-a-more to make him white."—Case of Sir Ignoramus of Cambridge, 1648, p. 23.
R. C. Warde.
Kidderminster.
Wedding Proverb.—Is the following distich known in any part of England?—
"To change the name, but not the letter,
Is to marry for worse, and not for better."
I met with it in an American book, but it was probably an importation.
Spinster.
German Phrase.—What is the origin of a sarcastic German phrase often used?
"Er erwartet dass der Himmel voll Bassgeigen längt."
L. M. M. R.
German Heraldry.—Where can I refer to a book in which the armorial bearings of all the principal German families are engraved?
Speriend.
Leman Family.—About the middle of the seventeenth century, say 1650 to 1670, two gentlemen left England for America, who are supposed to have been brothers or near relatives of Sir John Leman, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1616. Traditions, which have been preserved in manuscript, and which can be traced back over one hundred years, tell of a correspondence which took place between the said Sir John and the widow of one of the brothers, in relation to her returning to England.
The writer of this (a descendant of one of these gentlemen) is anxious to learn the names of the brothers and near relatives of this Sir John; and whether any evidence exists of their leaving England for America, &c., &c.; and would feel much indebted to any one who would supply the information through your paper.
R. W. L.
Philadelphia.
A Cob-wall.—Why do the inhabitants of Devonshire call a wall made of tempered earth, straw, and small pebbles mixed together, a cob-wall? Walls so constructed require a foundation of stone or bricks, which is commonly continued to the height of about two feet from the surface of the ground. Has the term cob reference to the fact that such a wall is a superstructure on the foundation of stone or brick?
A. B. C.
Inscription near Chalcedon.—In 1675, when Sir Geo. Wheler and his travelling companion visited Chalcedon (as recorded in his Voyage from Venice to Constantinople, fol., Lond. 1682, p. 209.), it was famous only for the memory of the great council held there in A.D. 327, the twentieth of the reign of Constantine the Great:
"The first thing we did (he says) was to visit the metropolitan church, where they say it was kept; but M. Nanteuil assured us that it was a mile from thence, and that he had there read an inscription that mentioneth it. Besides, it is a small obscure building, incapable to contain such an assembly."
Has the inscription here spoken of been noticed by any traveller, and can any of your readers refer to a copy of it; and say whether it is cotemporary, and whether it has been more recently noticed?
W. S. G.
Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Domesday Book.—What does the abbreviation glđ, or gelđ, applied to terra, signify? Also, in the description of places, there is frequently a capital letter, B., or M., or S. before it, as in one case, e. g. "B. terr. glđ wasta." Can any one inform me what it signifies?
In the case of many parishes, it is stated that there was a church there: is it considered conclusive authority that there was not one, if it is not mentioned in Domesday Book?
A. W. H.
Dotinchem.—What modern town in Holland, or elsewhere, bore or bears the name of Dotinchem, at which is dated a MS. missal I have inspected, written in the fifteenth century? The reason for believing the place to be Dutch is, that the Calendar marks the days of the principal saints of Holland with red letters. There are other indications in the Calendar of the missal having been written in and for the use of a community situated where the influence of Cologne, Liège, Maestricht, and Daventer would have been felt.
Perhaps, should the above Query not be answered in England, some correspondent of your Dutch cotemporary the Navorscher may have the goodness to reply to it.
G. J. R. Gordon.
Sidmouth.
"Mirrour to all," &c.—Can you refer me to any possessor of the poetical work entitled a Mirrour to all who love to follow the Wars (or Waves), 4to.: London, printed by John Wolfe, 1589? A copy was sold by Mr. Rodd for six guineas. (See his Catalogue for 1846.)
H. Delta.
Oxford.
Title wanted.—I have a copy of the Pugna Porcorum, the margin of which is covered with illustrative and parallel passages, among which is the following:
"Heros
Ad magnum se accingit opus ferrumque bifurcum
Cote acuit, pinguique perungit acumina lardo;
Deinde suis, vasto consurgens corpore, rostrum
Perforat et furcam capulo tenus urget, at illa
Prominuit rostro summisque in naribus hæsit."
Χοιροχοιρογ. 182.
I shall be much obliged to any one who will give me the full title to the book from which this is quoted, and any account of it.
G. H. W.
Portrait of Charles I.—Countess Du Barry.—In Bachaumont's Mémoires Secrets, &c., I read the following passage under date of March 25, 1771:
"L'impératrice des Russies a fait enlever tout le cabinet de tableaux de M. le Comte de Thiers, amateur distingué, qui avait une très-belle collection en ce genre. M. de Marigny a eu la douleur de voir passer ces richesses chez l'étranger, faute de fonds pour les acquérir pour le compte du roi.
"On distinguait parmi ces tableaux un portrait en pied de Charles I., roi d'Angleterre, original de Vandyk. C'est le seul qui soit resté en France. Madame la Comtesse Dubarri, qui déploie de plus en plus son goût pour les arts, a ordonné de l'acheter: elle l'a payé 24,000 livres. Et sur le reproche qu'on lui faisait de choisir un pareil morceau entre tant d'autres qui auraient dû lui mieux convenir, elle a répondu que c'était un portrait de famille qu'elle retirait. En effet, les Dubarri se prétendent parents de la Maison des Stuards."
Can you give me any account of this portrait of King Charles by Vandyk, for which the Countess Du Barry paid the sum of 1000l. sterling?
What grounds are there for the allegation, that the Countess was related to the royal House of Stuart?
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia.